Groom broke his ankle three weeks before the wedding

dbartness

My fiancé and I are getting married on June 26th. 

 

Thursday night he had his first hockey game of the summer season (indoor rink), something he has been looking forward to since the end of the winter session.  He'd been gone for about 1.5 hours before I got the phone call "I think I sprained my ankle, you need to come get me and bring me to the ER"

 

Xrays are taken and low and behold he's got a fracture of the distal fibula.  we see an Orthopedic surgeon on Wednesday morning to see if he needs surgery.  Even if he doesn't need surgery (I hope to God he doesn't need surgery) he will be in a cast and be using crutches at the wedding and dance. 

we were not going to do a receiving line as we were going to go visit each table separately, now we will be having the receiving line with FI using a chair to sit on during it. 

I have a meeting with the photographer, again, to change all the locations of our pictures, as well FI wont be able to crutch around to some of the locations we picked out.   

I need to call the tux rental place to see if he will need to get a different tux or what we can do for him with the cast.

Overall I think I'm handling this added stress very well (even though I have 100 more things I'll have to do alone to get ready for the wedding, and to just keep the house clean and yard mown).

Just wondering if I am forgetting anything that I should be planning for...or if anyone has any advice for this situation.

MobKaz

Congratulations on staying calm. I hope the appointment goes well for your FI and that he is able to avoid surgery. My daughter broke her foot about 8 weeks before her wedding. Her goal was to be able to forgo crutches going up the aisle. Her dress had already been altered to a hem length paired to her heels, which she obviously was not longer able to wear. She was off crutches and able to forego her boot briefly, but had to wear fairly hideous shoes to offer the best support. (***Tangent note to lurkers......shoes really and truly DO NOT MATTER, especially for BM's. Daughter still married validly, and no photographs were harmed in the process.) Your FI may need to wear a sturdy shoe versus a dress shoe. Perhaps just for the ceremony or small portion of the day, your FI might be able to use a walking boot. Sitting for some of the ceremony may also be helpful. If he has surgery and requires any pain management, watch alcohol intake and make sure he stays hydrated. He may also need to keep small snacks with him if medication requires food in his stomach. Because he will be vertical a good portion of the day, you might want to keep an extra chair nearby at dinner in case he needs to elevate his foot for a brief period of time. If the weather is warm, you might want to have some powder on hand to keep his leg cool inside the cast. Something thin and long to curb itching inside the cast might also be necessary. Good luck to you both!

dbartness

Thanks for the advice, I would never have thought of having powder on hand for his cast!  I am hoping he will be able to use a boot but the ER doc didn't seem to think he would get away with that. 

charlottesmom0626

My wedding is also on that date! I've pretty much asked FI to please stay in a bubble..

we moved into a new place last month; and the night before he had a sever sprain/partial tear of his ACL. Moving alone wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be.

Sounds like you've made the necessary arrangements; try to enjoy the day. See how it goes the next few weeks, perhaps they can reevaluate the week of the wedding to see if they can put him in a walking cast or boot?

mrscomposer

I broke my ankle a few years ago and had surgery that night.  I was in a fiberglass cast for the first ten days after surgery, and then they switched me to a walking boot after that.  Still no weight bearing for another six weeks, but I could take the cast off to sleep and shower.

All that to say - I know what he's going through, and everything that everyone else suggested is bang on   Regardless of what kind of cast he has, make sure he's sitting down with his foot up for most of the reception.  It'll suck, but it'll be better in the long run.

thespeshulestsnowflake

It could be worse. The brother of one of BF's work friends broke his nose and got a black eye 2-3 weeks before his wedding playing hockey.

lyndausvi

I think you are handling it well. 

  My SIL had knee surgery 1-2 weeks before her wedding to my brother.  She used her deceased grandfather's cane. It was a really beautiful cane he had gotten overseas somewhere.  She felt like he was there.

 They did most of the group shots with her and my brother sitting and the rest of us standing around them.   She did stand during the receiving line with help with the cane.    

Their first dance was them just swaying.    It was still sweet.

Knottie92548810

You'd be surprised what the doctors would do if you told them that your wedding was in 3 weeks. If you ask them for a boot, they will probably do so and put a cast on the next monday. Also, the ER docs don't always know the best about casts. When my fiance broke his foot, he went to the med center, and then the orthopedic surgeon. He was in a temporary cast, then a boot, then another temp cast after surgery, then a hard cast and then a boot again. Also, look into knee scooters. Way easier than crutches. My fiance liked his... until it came to stairs.